


Hero Material

by kriadydragon



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Heart Attacks, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 22:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5682388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kriadydragon/pseuds/kriadydragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“What do you mean the amulet could kill me!” Ezekiel is not having a good day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hero Material

**Author's Note:**

> My first foray into Librarians fic. I got into this show at the worst possible time, namely into season two when there were only three episodes left. So if there was an episode that dealt with Sleeping Beauty in some way, I didn't know about it. The amulet is also my own creation and not based on anything in particular. 
> 
> There also isn't enough Ezekiel fic. That guy is adorable. 
> 
> Mild spoilers for The Point of Salvation.

Ezekiel did not want to be a hero. He really, really, _really_ did not want to be one. 

“What do you mean the amulet could kill me!” he snapped.

“The amulet forces your body to keep pumping out adrenaline,” Stone said, and Ezekiel had never realized just how far away someone sounded over the comm. “But because of the sleep spell it has to produce twice the amount of adrenaline in order to counter the magic. The longer you wear that thing, the more strain your body is under. Like sprinting for fifty miles without a break.”

“And you couldn't have told me this sooner!”

“I'd thought you'd be out sooner!” Stone said, and that there was a note of apology in his tone actually made Ezekiel nervous. Jake Stone would rather run naked through a blizzard than apologize to Ezekiel for anything. 

“You try being out sooner when you're lugging a hundred pound spinning wheel,” Ezekiel growled. The stupid thing certainly felt a hundred pounds, and it was cumbersome, and it had a very sharp looking spindle that seemed a bit excessive for something meant to produce thread.

Ezekiel's heart did an uncomfortable lurch that he was pretty sure hearts weren't supposed to do. He exited the room with the floor slabs you had to step on in a certain order (which Ezekiel had simply deactivated by cutting the wires hidden behind the painfully obvious fake wooden panel) and entered the room with the equally dormant lasers. 

Ezekial's heart did another lurch as if it was trying to kick him.

“Oh this day just keeps getting better and better,” he gritted. It hadn't actually started out too bad - if you didn't count the nut job who'd somehow gotten his hands on Sleeping Beauty's spinning wheel (and why a fairy tale story object that cursed you to sleep for eternity was even a thing, Ezekiel had no idea. Oh, wait, he was a Librarian and this was a library matter. Of course it was a thing) then tricked the woman he loved but who didn't love him into touching it, cursing the entire building to sleep, right at the same time Eve and Cassandra had decided to rush inside thinking they'd made it just in time. 

Other than that little hiccup, between the amulet that had the power of fifty cups of coffee and state of the art security systems that had been no match for Ezekiel Jones, Ezekiel had been having a pretty good day. 

He really should have known better. 

The security measures, as state of the art as they were, had been no-brainers. There'd been no challenge, and Ezekiel Jones only liked challenges, but not entirely for the reasons everyone thought. Yes, easy security systems were boring, not to mention they might as well be a billboard announcing how there was nothing of interest to see here, please move along. A challenge kept Ezekiel on his toes, it kept him alert… and, yes, it kept him from getting overconfident. As much as he was proud to be confident, a little too much confidence lead to complacency and a disregard for possible surprises; surprises such as the prize being a one hundred pound spinning wheel that Ezekiel had to drag while an amulet kept revving up his heart with what felt like enough force to punch a hole through his sternum.

This was why being the hero sucked. Because being the hero meant possibly dying, and as much as Ezekiel liked a challenge he liked his life a lot more. 

“Tell me again whose idea this was?” Ezekiel said, and didn't like the way his voice cracked at the end, as if his lungs didn't have enough air to spare for his voice.

“Look, Jones, you can do this. Just get that thing into the box and the spell will end.”

“Yeah, get this thing into the box. Easy.” Ezekiel gave the spinning wheel one massive haul, its ancient wooden legs scraping over the expensive marble and bringing him out of the room full of dormant lasers and into the room that had been blocked off by a giant stone puzzle, the kind with the sliding squares you had to move around to form a picture; because apparently the idiot who'd stolen the wheel had assumed anyone who wanted to steal it would be ten years old. The picture the puzzle formed had been the idiot in question. 

And everyone thought Ezekiel was full of himself. 

Ezekiel's heart did another uncomfortable lurch which was definitely not normal. His left arm also felt funny, kind of cramping and numb.

“Stone, are you sure there's not another amulet? I mean, you know, it's not that I can't handle pulling this thing or anything but a little help would be appreciated.”

“Sorry, buddy,” Stone said. The fact that his tone was gentle, and that he had called Ezekiel buddy, was not helping. At all. The only time Stone was ever this nice to him was in situations just like this one, in which death was a very strong possibility and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

This was what playing the hero got you; people who didn't particularly like you being nice because you were probably going to die. It got you death. By heart attack. 

Ezekiel didn't do heroic. He did running away very, very fast. But for some reason the rest of the team kept begging to differ, Eve especially. Something about that incident with the video game world had quadrupled their respect for him, but Ezekiel was on to them. They were just having him on, hoping that by pretending that the things they said happened had happened would make him a better person or some crap like that. Most likely so that he would go out and do more heroic things even if those things tried to kill him…

Except…

Well…

There had been something incredibly unnerving, even sickening, in the way Eve and Cassandra had been lying there, as if they were dead. Which they weren't, of course. They'd been breathing. But they'd been so still, and Ezekiel didn't know why but it had made him want to vomit and cry and rush in head-first to the vault and break the spinning wheel to bits, even though the wheel couldn't be destroyed (because most of the magical artifacts they retrieved were jerks like that). He had breezed through the mess of security, not caring that it wasn't a challenge, only caring that time wasn't being wasted.

Which was starting to make Ezekiel seriously wonder if the others had been telling the truth. 

It didn't matter. Ezekiel really didn't want to be the hero today. His heart gave another hard jolt and this time it hurt, as if it really would burst, and to Ezekiel's shame he felt like crying.

“I really don't want my heart to explode,” he said, not caring that his voice had cracked and wavered.

“It won't. Just keep going, you have to be close,” Stone said, soft and gentle but urgent, and this time Ezekiel appreciated it. He was scared. No, he was terrified, which was only making matters worse, adding to the painful lurches in his chest that seemed to steal his breath away each time.

“Listen,” Ezekiel gasped. “You may need to defib me when this is done. Remember. Bare skin. Either side of the ribcage… just don't rip the shirt… like this shirt… lucky shirt...” although it didn't feel lucky at that moment.

“It won't come to that,” Stone said. 

“It's… better than… CPR… cause… broken ribs… suck… ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!” Ezekiel cried out when the next lurch felt like a boot straight to the cardiovascular system. It hurt. It hurt so much and he couldn't breathe and he wanted to cry but… there! There it was. The box, the stupid glorious box with it's stupid magic that would cut off the magic and stop the magic… he really hated magic right now. He couldn't feel his left arm, and his right arm was taking a trip down the same numbing road. He heaved the spinning wheel with everything he had, pushing past the pain and the fear. 

Once he had the spinning wheel in place, he stumbled around the thing's other side and pushed. He could have sworn the stupid wheel was fighting him, catching on anything it could. He had to lift it just a little to get it over the edge of the large wooden crate covered in runes and other fancy magic word stuff. Once over the rim, the wheel slid in easily. 

Another hard, painful lurch – several in fact. Ezekiel cried out, falling to his knees, while Stone shouted in his ear. It was with a shaking hand that Ezekiel grabbed the lid of the box, the other hand gripping his chest as though it would actually do him any good. He heaved, crying out a third time when his heart let him know rather vicously just what it thought of that final burst of energy. The lid made contact with the box. A flash of light and the box sealed. 

The moment it did, everyone passed out on he marble floor jolted awake. 

Ezekiel collapsed to the floor, gasping for air. His vision began to blur, his heart thrashing in his chest. 

Why couldn't the curse have been broken with a kiss? Which, yes, he had fervently hoped would not be the way to break the curse, but at least it would have been faster. 

Two faces suddenly appeared over Ezekiel, and he wished he could kiss them because right now they were saving angels sent from Heaven.

“Jones, Jones! What's wrong, what is it?” Eve said, gripping Ezekiel by both shoulders as if by holding on to him it would keep him from dying. Cassandra was next to her, pale and looking about ready to sob. Which was odd. No one ever cried for Ezekiel.

Ezekiel fumbled with his right hand for the amulet until he found it, and gave it a feeble tug.

Eve didn't hesitate. She grabbed the amulet by its stupid red stone surrounded by gold, pulled it off and…

The world went black. 

Ezekiel hoped this wasn't death, because death was kind of boring if it was. Although he supposed it wasn't too bad. At least the pain was gone, as was the horrible lurching. Nothing but nice, numb drifting. 

Then he started seeing things, which he was pretty sure was his life flashing before his eyes, except some of it didn't make sense. Such as the team being killed over and over again by a bunch of zombie-like berserk people-things, and him hitting boxes to produce health packs, or grabbing a red-hot pipe. But the images never lasted for long before moving on to actual memories.

Ezekiel had no idea how long he was doing the whole 'flash before your eyes' deal - centuries, although it felt more like ten seconds. Then things began to change, the images growing faint and actual sensation taking their place. Pleasant sensations, such as being warm and relaxed, and not-so-pleasant sensations such as being psychotically hungry. 

Okay, so unless this was hell and hell had a funny way of being, well, hell, then something was definitely off. 

Or maybe Ezekiel wasn't dead after all. He liked that possibility, a lot. Since he could feel then he certainly should have the ability to control his body. He thought about opening his eyes.

Sure enough, they opened – a little slow, a little sticky, a lot blurry, but they definitely opened. Ezekiel wanted to leap off the warm, comfortable thing and whoop for joy. His body, however, was quite content to stay where it was. And Ezekiel had to admit for good reason. When he turned his head, attempting to get a lay of the land, a wave of dizziness washed over him, making all that effort of opening his eyes pointless. 

Ezekiel's stomach rumbled, bombarding him with cravings for pizza, with extra, extra cheese, loaded with pepperoni, a dessert pizza on the side and a bucket-load of bread sticks and dipping sauce… 

Ezekiel forced himself to open his eyes again, his vision thankfully no longer blurry. When he moved his head he did so slowly, and after a very sloth-like glance of his surroundings, he realized he was at the Annex. He was currently lying on a cot, and a surprisingly comfortable one at that, with several blankets covering him and a chair, currently empty, at the foot. 

Ezekiel didn't like the fact that he found the empty chair to be rather depressing. He was Ezekiel Jones. He didn't need company while he slept. 

But he wouldn't have minded it right about then. 

As if some invisible genie were hovering close by ready to grant his every wish, Cassandra suddenly appeared, book in one hand and cup of tea in the other. When she saw Ezekiel, her jaw dropped and the tea nearly went with it. 

“Ezekiel!” she yelped. She hastily set both book and cup on the nearest bookshelf, then ran to Ezekiel, and practically collapsed on top of him, gathering him in a hug that seemed to squeeze every last molecule of air from his lungs. Ezekiel had never realized how strong Cassandra could be when immensely happy. 

“You're awake!” she yelped again.

Ezekiel could only produce a squeaking, wheezing noise in response that he hoped she translated as 'Yes, I'm awake, and I would really like to breathe right now.'

Cassandra didn't get the message, but she did let him go in order to dash through the Annex calling for the others because Ezekiel was awake and responsive and probably really hungry and someone should order celebratory pizza. Ezekiel kind of loved her right then. 

The next thing Ezekiel knew he was surrounded by the team plus Jenkins, all smiling or helping him to sit up or clapping him on the shoulder. It had been a close one, they said. Ezekiel's heart rate had been all over the place, and the subsequent exhaustion from the removal of the amulet had left him sleeping for two days. One of those days had been spent in the hospital, that's how close it was. Thankfully, neither a defibrillator nor CPR had been needed, which Ezekiel figured as much from the lack of soreness in his chest. Only observation and liquids to combat the mild dehydration was required. 

Ezekiel also became aware of the steady beating of his heart. No lurches, no pain, just the usual thump-thump-thump of a young, healthy cardiovascular system that laughed in the face of heart attacks. 

After some 'good to see you up' and 'glad you're okay,' Eve went to order the much desired pizza, Cassandra went to gather plates, Jenkins to clear some space on the table, and Stone not going anywhere but sitting right in the chair. Yep, just had to be Stone. And on top of that, he was staring at Ezekiel.

And smiling.

“What?” Ezekiel said, wanting to bury himself back under the blankets. A smiling Stone was a Stone not to be trusted.

Stone shook a finger at him. “You like being a good guy.”

Ezekiel barked out a high-pitched laugh. “You're joking, right? I nearly dropped dead of a heart attack! If that's what it means to be the good and mighty hero then I think I'll take a rain check on it, thanks.”

Stone's face softened. “You know, I hadn't thought about it at the time with everything that was going on, but there was time,” he said, causing Ezekiel to raise a questioning eyebrow. “Time for everyone asleep, I mean. It wasn't like you had to get the wheel into the crate by a certain hour or no one would wake up. You could have left the mansion, given me the amulet, and I could have gone in and finished the job.”

“Okay?” Ezekiel said, wondering where Stone was going with this seeing as how it was long after the fact and all.

“You didn't even consider it?” Stone asked. “Naw. This is you we're talking about. I know you considered it.

“Um, o-kaaaay?” Maybe Ezekiel had considered it, he couldn't recall. 

“You just kept going, you wouldn't quit,” Stone went on. “Which was a pretty stupid thing to do for a guy normally good at saving his own skin.”

Ezekiel snorted. “Oh, that's what this is. You just wanted to insult me--”

Stone glowered. “ _No_. That's _not_ what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to point out the fact that you're hero material whether you like it or not. And don't give me that 'being a hero kills you,' crap. It's not like being a thief is a safe skip through the park, especially the way you go on about _needing a challenge_...” Stone made air quotes while saying this, as well as trying and failing to mock Ezekiel's accent. “You can't say you didn't already live a dangerous life. You're just good at finding a way out. Except this time… you didn't take the way out. You kept going. Don't sell yourself short, kid. You may be a thief but… you're still a good guy.”

Ezekiel pressed his lips together for a moment. “How difficult was it for you to say that out loud?”

“Agonizing.”

“Think you could repeat it? I don't think I caught it all.”

Stone glared at him, but it was half-hearted, ruined by Stone's mouth trying to twitch toward a smile. He then cleared his throat, shifting as if shaking off their little moment, but looking slightly uncomfortable rather than his usual gruffness when it came to dealing with Ezekiel.

“For the record,” Stone said. “It's okay to be self-preserving. I don't mean running off and leaving us with the mess. I mean you can save your own life along with everyone else's. You can count on us to have your back. We're a team. It's what teams do.”

Ezekiel set his mouth in another straight line. But rather than comment with some sarcastic quip that would have cut the awkward moment blessedly short, he nodded. 

“Good,” Stone said. He then stood up and held out a hand. Ezekiel took it, letting Stone not only haul him up but help steady him when more dizziness tried to floor him. They made their way to the now clear table for some much deserved food. Pizza. The food of heroes.

The End


End file.
